To follow.

 

A report was presented that detailed the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire’s (the Commissioner) proposed increase in the Police Precept.  Details of the proposed increases were attached to the report presented at Appendix 1 and Annexes A, B and C.

 

Under Schedule 5 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 the Lincolnshire Police and Crime Panel (the Panel) was required to review the Commissioner’s proposed Police Precept and report on it. The guidelines for this process were detailed within Appendix 2 of the report.

 

The Commissioner noted that the precept meetings, although held only once a year, seemed to be coming around more and more quickly.

 

He noted that he did not enjoy discussing whether the people of Lincolnshire should be paying more on their council tax for their policing needs, even if the cost was relatively small when judged against the total cost of the council tax bill. He noted that the Lincolnshire council tax payers were paying significantly less than their neighbours in Nottinghamshire.  He revealed that he never underestimated the responsibility of using council tax payer’s money and what he and the Chief Constable were proposing to do with it.

 

The Commissioner considered that he always had the public in mind when he set out to deliver the most robust consultation that he could across the County so that he could ensure that Lincolnshire Police could understand the views of the public.  He considered that he pushed his team to engage with groups who previously had not been considered in order to ensure that all views were heard.

 

One of the ideas introduced to the consultation a couple of years ago, was the free text box in order that the public could comment and really share their views and as usual a professional company was employed to ensure a statistically robust approach to the task.

 

The Commissioner continued by noting that he often had to question his personal view of what he thought was right versus what he thought the public was telling him, especially when the two did not align.

 

He noted that he was more naturally inclined to believe in low taxes, and he found it difficult to come before the panel and ultimately before the public and say, “You’ve told me you want to protect these services and/or increase these services, and that is what we [the Police] are going to do”.

 

He informed Members that as the public expected the Police to be clear about what they will be doing with those taxes, he had been consulting with the Chief Constable in order to identify and deliver clear Police prioritisations if the Precept was approved, which would then give the public clarity as to how their money would be spent.

 

The Commissioner then invited Julie Flint, the Chief Finance Officer at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to deliver her presentation.  She displayed slides which, she informed Members, would underpin the Commissioner’s Precept Proposal. 

 

The slides were divided under five main headings:

 

·         Police Grant Settlement

·         Expenditure plans and Funding

·         Future Funding Landscape

·         Risk Management

·         Impact on Precept

 

With regard to the Police Grant Settlement, Members were informed that this money was provided by Central Government, with a proposed amount set out before Christmas and confirmation of which was received earlier in the week.  The Central Government grant was in total £71.3 Million, an increase of £3.7 Million from last year. 

 

Some of the grant covered the cost of 67 new officers (including four for Serious Organised Crime).  This would bring the total of officers in Lincolnshire to 1,186.

 

Lincolnshire was also awarded a one off allocation of £1.1 Million which was to support the initial costs for the officer uplift to cover additional training, uniforms, cars etc.

 

It was expected that the Precept cap of £10 would remain in place for the next three years.

 

Provisional Spending Plans

 

Out of a provisional £151.5 Million budget the breakdown was shown:

 

·         Capital financing: 2.9%

·         OPCC: 0.8%

·         Officers: 46.8%

·         Support functions 17.4%

·         Police Staff & PCSOs: 10.6%

·         Other Costs 21.5%

 

It was noted that money for G4S which was largely for salaries had yet to be de-segregated and was currently held under the support functions category.  This would change once the funds were de-segregated across the various headings, (ie. Staff, contracts., etc.)  The de-segregation was expected to be implemented sometime in the New Year, once the matter had been further clarified.

 

Attention was drawn to the budgetary gap and the reasons for it.  These included:

 

·         Uplift in number of police officers

·         Cost increase due to G4S services transferring back to Lincolnshire Police due to the end of the significant savings made under the G4S contact.

·         NI Increase

 

A further slide displayed the expected income. The total provisional income expectation was £146.5M.  This included:

 

·         Council Tax - £44.3%

·         Government Grants – 55.5%

·         Contributions from other income – 0.20%

 

When discussing Medium Term Funding, the Chief Finance Officer reported that she expected a rise in the medium term funding for 22/23 and thereafter a £2-3M per year uplift.  It was noted that there was an expectation that going forward, police grant increases would be flattened as funding for the additional officers had ceased.  She confirmed that the above figures included a year on year precept increase of £10.

 

Caution was advised regarding the inflationary impacts, with the expectation that the effort to maximise funding opportunities and special grant applications would continue to be a major point for the PCC and his team.

 

With a few further comments regarding the public consultation and Band D increases, the Chief Finance Officer concluded her presentation and  questions were invited from the Panel Members.

 

A copy of the questions and answers is attached at Appendix B to these minutes.

 

On completion of the question and answer session, the Chairman reviewed the basis on which the Panel would vote, that being the Panel approve the increase in the 2022/23 Police Precept by £9.99, a 3.7% increase for a Band D property.

 

He noted that the Commissioner had reported that the public consultation had provided a clear indication that 75% of respondents were prepared to pay more.

 

The Commissioner’s proposed Precept was proposed and seconded, but before the vote was taken a Member of the Panel requested it be noted that the increase proposed for the upcoming financial year, was also available for the following two years.  The Member considered that it should be made clear that the vote would apply only to the next financial year and would have no influence or aspect on any precept proposal brought before the Panel in the following financial years.

 

The Chairman confirmed that the vote would be for the Precept for the upcoming (2022/23) financial year only.  The Chairman confirmed that the vote had been proposed and seconded upon which when put to the vote, approval was unanimous.

 

Following which it was

 

RESOLVED

 

1.   That the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire’s proposal to increase the Policing Precept by £9.99 (a 3.7% rise on a Band D property) for 2022/23 be approved:

 

2.   That the Panel Chairman and the Democratic Services Manager be requested to arrange for the formal acceptance letter to be sent to the Commissioner.